There’s an unbreakable link between Easter and the Bible. The earliest Christian creed, quoted by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, puts it simply: Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose on the third day—“according to the Scriptures.” These weren’t later inventions; they were the words of some of the first disciples shortly after the first Easter. They tied their belief in the resurrection of Jesus to the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah.
That same commitment to Scripture shows up throughout early church history. Take Athanasius of Alexandria, a fourth-century pastor famous for two things: defending the faith and getting exiled… a lot. When he wasn’t being kicked out of town, he served as Bishop of Alexandria.
In AD 367 he wrote an Easter letter that became a big deal because it included the earliest surviving list of the New Testament exactly as we have it today—27 books. Basically, Athanasius gave the ancient church’s version of the New Testament’s table of contents—what we refer to as the canon of Scripture.
Here’s a bit of what he wrote:
Again it is not tedious to speak of the [books] of the New Testament. These are, the four Gospels, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Afterwards, the Acts of the Apostles and Epistles (called Catholic), seven, viz. of James, one; of Peter, two; of John, three; after these, one of Jude. In addition, there are fourteen Epistles of Paul, written in this order. The first, to the Romans; then two to the Corinthians; after these, to the Galatians; next, to the Ephesians; then to the Philippians; then to the Colossians; after these, two to the Thessalonians, and that to the Hebrews; and again, two to Timothy; one to Titus; and lastly, that to Philemon. And besides, the Revelation of John.
Some skeptics ask, “Why did it take until the fourth century to get the list?” But that’s a bit like asking why the table of contents shows up after the book is written.
The message about Jesus spread first by word of mouth. Eyewitnesses told what they had seen. Eventually oral accounts were committed to writing—the Gospels—and later the Apostles wrote letters to churches explaining what Christians should believe and how they should live. The last New Testament book, Revelation, was written around AD 95. Expecting an immediate official list while Christians were being persecuted and trying not to get arrested is a bit unrealistic.
In reality, Christians were already using these writings long before Athanasius made his list. Scholars often say the church had a functional canon before it had a formal one. They’re not wrong.
We see this especially when the church pushed back against bad theology. For example, Marcion liked Jesus but disliked the Old Testament God. His solution? Delete the Old Testament, trim down Luke’s Gospel, and keep only some of Paul’s letters—essentially creating the ancient world’s first “custom Bible.”
Church leaders quickly pushed back. In his argument against Marcion, written about 150 years before Athanasius’ famed Easter letter, Tertullian used nearly all the New Testament writings. Later, Origen listed the same 27 books more than a century before Athanasius. A basic understanding of what was considered Scripture came early in the life of the Church.
Athanasius didn’t invent the canon in the fourth century—he simply wrote down what Christians had already been reading and trusting for generations.
And he did it with joy. For Athanasius, Scripture wasn’t just a list of books; it was the foundation of the faith and the witness to the resurrection of Jesus.
So as Easter approaches, remember, the story Christians celebrate didn’t appear centuries later. From the very beginning, believers treasured these writings because they testified to the risen Son of God—the fulfillment of the promise first hinted at in Genesis, echoing through the prophets, and proclaimed in the Gospels.
In other words, Easter and the Bible have always gone together. From the first disciples to church fathers with a talent for getting exiled, Christians have been saying the same thing. He is risen—and the Scriptures told us so.
Check out my new podcast Why I’m Not, a journey of verbal processing and theological reflection upon my experience in and through Christian fundamentalism.